Everything you need to know about Ireland new boy Mark McGuinness - from Liam Brady to Franz Ferdinand
Luton Town and Ireland's Mark McGuinness is a sporting freak - brilliant at football, golf ... and bowls.
Mark McGuinness has vowed to make use of his Arsenal schooling in an international setting.
The Ireland new boy joined the Gunners as a 10-year-old, staying at the club for 11 years before moving on.
But while he never played a game at the Emirates, he still left there with Arsenal’s ethos imprinted into his soul.
Read more: Shelbourne boss Damien Duff tipped to be the next Ireland manager by Boys in Green legend
And the Luton centre-back firmly believes his education under Liam Brady and Per Mertesacker have left him in an ideal spot to move into international football.
McGuinness said: ““If I was to sit here and say I was perfect, I’d be lying to you. Distribution is something I do feel I’m good at in terms of variation of passes, long distance passes, short passes, as you mention there before from my academy days at Arsenal and going through that, seeing top level players, being involved in that, you can’t get away with not being tidy on the ball.
“It’s something that everyone can work on and the higher up you go, the more demand there is to get on the ball. As I said to you, my main role is to defend.”
With Luton and Ireland he’ll have little choice - both teams used to being on the back foot.
But now that he has added steel to style, McGuinness, 23, feels he can make the leap from Championship to international football.
He said: “When I was at Arsenal, there was no hiding in training, no getting away, no half heartedness. It is 100 per cent all the time there.
“I had so many good influences. Take Liam Brady, as an example. We got on well. It was nice having him there, he was a big role model, and having Irish heritage helped.
“I was quite fortunate when I was younger to be in an environment where there was a lot of demand on youngsters in terms of discipline and hard work. We didn’t have all the luxuries that some of the academies have now.
“It was very much, head down, work, which is pretty telling of an Irish player.
“We had really good players in our age group at Arsenal, players like Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Reece Nelson, they are all thriving. “There’s other boys now playing in Championship, League One, everyone is floating around. I would like to get to the Premier League, too.”
And if he does, he will have Mertesacker to thank.
McGuinness said: “We had a good relationship actually, he came in as academy manager, a little bit after Liam Brady left and was a good role model for me.
“We still keep in contact. He was very much into doing the fundamentals and the basics right - look that is why he had the career he had, because of his personality as a leader. I tried to take those lessons from him.”
Now he wants to show those lessons in a green shirt after being called up last month for the Finland and Greece games before injuries forced him to withdraw.
So this week he aims to get one over England - in the same week his brother, Tom, is representing England at bowls in Hong Kong.
Previously his dad, John, won silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. “Bowls is harder than you think. Obviously the profile is a lot lower than football but their routine is similar enough to mine. I grew up in it.”
And also in the music scene, playing guitar and piano.
He also has a cousin signed up to the famous Domino Records label while another cousin fronted a band called The Bohicas, who toured with major acts such as Franz Ferdinand.
Defender Mark is a keen musician himself - and is equally as comfortable with a ball at his feet as he is with a golf club in hand or piano in front of him.
He said: “It is crucial to do something that is a distraction from football because it can be full-on.”
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